What Is an Advertising Allowance?
An advertising allowance is money that a product manufacturer or service provider pays to a retailer to get the word out about their product. An advertising allowance may also take the form of a supplier or manufacturer giving a discount on inventory provided to a wholesaler or retailer to pay for advertising or merchandising costs.
The company may establish requirements for the retailer to receive the allowance, such as getting the company's approval of the advertisement before it is displayed and providing proof that the advertisement was made. By helping the retailer pay its advertising costs, the company's advertising allowance gives the retailer an incentive to carry that product.
Key Takeaways
- An advertising allowance is money that a product manufacturer or service provider pays to a retailer to get the word out about their product.
- An advertising allowance can take many forms, such as a supplier giving a discount on inventory, a display allowance for set-up costs, or creative development costs such as producing images or graphics for a traditional advertisement.
- The sum of an advertising allowance is generally based on the total amount of a retailer's purchases, most commonly a percentage of total purchases.
How Advertising Allowances Work
An advertising allowance may also be referred to as a "marketing co-op allowance" or "promotional allowance." Such a practice is a cost-effective method for helping manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, or retailers to reach their target market. One drawback, however, is that some manufacturers may be more restrictive in their advertising standards and practices than others.
The sum of an advertising allowance is generally based on the total amount of a retailer's purchases. An allowance that is based on the percentage of total purchases is the most common method, though an allowance based on the total number of units purchased may also be employed.
Advertising Allowance in Practice
Advertising allowance policies and practices will differ from company to company, but in most cases, a manufacturer will either pay for a share of a retailer's advertising costs, or provide them with images, graphics, or production assistance to create an ad. They may also provide a finished ad that may or may not be customizable for a particular retailer or locale.
An advertising allowance may also take the form of a display allowance, in which the manufacturer or supplier pays for the setup costs associated with product displays. An advertising allowance may be paid after the fact, as well, in which a manufacturer or supplier repays a retailer for advertising and promotion costs they have already incurred.
Example of an Advertising Allowance
For example, an educational toy store might carry a board game that helps children learn about personal finance. In addition, the toy store publishes a quarterly catalog in which it advertises the board game by showing a photo of children playing the game and providing a one-paragraph description of the game. The board game manufacturer would typically pay an advertising allowance to the toy store to help offset the expense of marketing the board game in the catalog. These expenses might include a fraction of the catalog's printing and mailing costs or discounts in the board game's wholesale cost
The price you set for your products or services is going to be an important factor in a lot of things: the volume of sales you get, the profits you make, and even the way your brand is perceived.
Rebates and discounts are distinct forms of cost reductions which directly or indirectly promote the overall sales of a business. Both pricing terms may sound similar, however, there is a considerable difference between discount and rebates which we explore in more detail below.
Discounts
What is a discount?
Discounts are typically applied at the point of purchase to reduce the buying price: when you get a bill, you pay the discounted value. It's all very immediate. The discounted price is visible as of the precise moment that the purchase would have been made and therefore offers immediate satisfaction.
The most common discounts are cash discounts, volume discounts and trade discounts. Trade discount is the amount by which a manufacturer reduces the retail price of a product when it sells to a wholesaler. This can be an important pricing tool to promote B2B sales. Whereas, volume discounts encourage buying in bulk, and cash discounts are given for early payment, aiming to accelerate cashflow.
The purpose of a company offering a discount is to increase short-term sales, move out-of-date stock, reward valuable customers therefore creating better relationships, and make sure sale targets are met. Customers may also choose your product or service over your competitors if the price is discounted enough.
Discount example
Discounts are provided to business customers that pay for the services or goods provided within a specific period of time this is known as early payment discount. For example, a business may offer its clients a small percentage of discount (5%) if they pay within a 30-day period.
Rebates
What is a rebate?
Rebates are a retrospective payment which ultimately reduces the overall cost of a product/service at a later date. This makes rebates different to discounts, as you pay the bill for the full amount then, at some point later in time, part of the amount may get returned to you. Often certain conditions may have to be met in order to get rebates such as volume-based, special pricing agreements (SPAs) or claim-backs.
Earnings or payments from rebate deals can form a very significant proportion of a company's profit margin. Rebates are commonly used as an incentive, to build loyalty and improve sales and market share.
A wide range of industries including building supplies, electronics, retail and wholesale distribution regularly offer rebates based on certain locations, products or product groups and on certain types of transaction. This means that the rebates can get rather complex.
Rebate example
Rebate agreements can take many complex forms, as they are often designed to cater to the specific sales strategies of the individual trading partners involved.
A simple example of a rebate is a volume incentive, where a customer could receive a rebate for buying a certain volume of a certain product over the life of the deal. For example, an annual rebate agreement might state a 5% rebate, conditional on purchasing over 1,000 units of a product costing $100. This would trigger a rebate payment of $5 per unit to the customer, as long as they purchased over 1,000 units throughout the year, effectively reducing the price paid for the product to $95 retrospectively.
These kinds of rebates are often tiered. For example, if you purchase 1,000 units, you may earn a 5% rebate, but if you purchase 2,000 units you could earn a 10% rebate and so on.
What are the typical differences between rebates vs discounts?
Definition | A retrospective payment used as an incentive to drive sales growth without simply reducing the quoted price by offering a discount. | A price reduction of goods allowed to customers who either make payment in a stipulated amount of time or purchase products in large quantities. |
Type of strategy | Long term sales strategy | Short term sales and marketing strategy |
Who is it available to? | Available to those companies who fulfil the specific criteria in the contract | Available to all |
When is it given? | The rebate is given as a deduction in the list price provided the required conditions are satisfied | The discount tends to be given for each item purchased by the customer |
Is a contract required? | Contracts are required | No contract required |
Does it have an impact on cash flow? | Rebates delay cash flow to the organization who is lower down the chain (i.e. distributors are lower than manufacturers / end user customers are lower than distributors) than those higher up the chain because they hold onto the cash for longer | Discounts do not delay cash to the organization lower down the chain |
Is it complex? | Rebates can be quite complex meaning a rebate management system may be needed | Discounts are fairly straightforward |
Therefore, from the above, it is quite clear that discount and rebate are two very different forms of cost reductions. Discount is a very common tool for increasing brand reputation and short-term sales. Rebates are a set agreement, only available when specific criteria are met, which can have a significant impact on the bottom line.
If you want to find out more about rebates, why not get introduced to our own rebate management solution, Enable?